Bihar govt turns down Tejashwi Yadav’s plea to retain bungalow

The Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government has turned down Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav’s plea to allow him to retain the bungalow alloted to him when he was the deputy chief minister.

The 5, Deshratna Marg bungalow of Tejashwi has now been alloted to Sushil Kumar Modi, the Deputy Chief Minister in the JD(U)-BJP coalition government.

The reallocation of ministerial bungalows was made in August, through an order of the Building Construction Department, to accommodate 14 ministers of the BJP and one of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in the new government.

“There will be no change in the office order for allocation of bungalows for anybody -- whether of the ruling NDA or opposition,” Building Construction Minister Maheshwar Hazari told PTI on Friday.

“The 5, Deshratna Marg bungalow would now be earmarked in the name of the deputy chief minister, while the 1, Polo Road bungalow, which Tejashwi would swap with Sushil Modi, would be the permanent address of the Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly,” Hazari, who is from the JD(U), said.

Tejashwi, the younger son of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, had written a letter to Kumar following the office order, with a prayer to allow him to retain the 5, Deshratna Marg bungalow.

On Tejashwi’s letter, Kumar had on Monday said, “One should not develop any personal attachment towards a government facility. Today I am on the seat, but it is not permanent.”

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) criticised the government order reallocating the bungalows.

“When Sushil Modi had ceased to be the deputy chief minister in 2013 and become the leader of opposition in the Legislative Council, he was allowed to retain his 1, Polo Road bungalow,” RJD spokesman Mritunjay Tiwari told PTI.

“Why can’t Tejashwi Yadav be treated similarly?” he wondered and claimed that the government had taken a “vindictive approach” towards the leader of opposition as he was “creating trouble” for both the chief minister and the deputy chief minister.

As per the government order, the 3, Deshratna Marg bungalow, which was earlier allotted to Tejashwi’s elder brother and former Bihar health minister Tej Pratap Yadav, has now been marked for the chairperson of the Legislative Council.